CLASS XIII. ORDER m.J UANCNCULOS. 795 



14. R. scelera'tus,Linn, (Fig. 908.) Celery-leaved Crowfoot^or Water 

 Crowfoot. Leaves snioolh, ternale or biternate, lobed, cut, and ob- 

 tusely crenaled, the upper ones nearly sessile, with linear cut segments; 

 peduncles furrowed ; calyx hairy, reflexed ; carpels numerous, in an 

 oblong head, small, smooth, roundish, compressed, with an even margin 

 and slightly rugose disk. 



English Botany, t. 681. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 48. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 219. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 11. 



Root of numerous long branched fibres. Stem stout, erect, hollow, 

 leafy, much branched, from a few inches to two feet high, a pale 

 yellowish green, smooth, and shining, except the ends of the branches 

 and peduncles are sometimes clothed with soft spreading pubescence. 

 Leaves smooth, or sometimes scattered over with soft hairs, the lower 

 ones with channeled footstalks, dilated at the base, ternate, with ovate 

 wedge-shaped lobes, which are sometimes again deeply divided into 

 three lobes, cut and crenated, the upper sessile, with linear cut or 

 toothed lobes. Flowers numerous, small, pale yellow opposite the 

 leaves, and terminal, on rather short peduncles, furrowed, and mostly 

 hairy. Calyx yellowish, ovate, acute, reflexed, downy, or smooth. 

 Petals roundish, wedge-shaped, with a short claw, and a small nec- 

 tariferous tubular scale. Stamens numerous, yellow, with slender 

 filaments and oblong anthers. Carpels numerous, small, in an oblong 

 cylindrical head, roundish, compressed, smooth, with an obtuse margin 

 and slightly rugose disk, the beak very short and obtuse. 



Habitat. — Sides of pools, ditches, and watery places. 



Perennial ; flowering in June. 



This is readily distinguished from all other of our species by its 

 hollow much branched stem, small numerous pale flowers, and oblong 

 cylindrical head of very numerous small carpels. It is one of the most 

 acrid of our species, producing in a short time considerable inflamma- 

 tion, and is said to be the plant used by indolent rogues to produce 

 ulcers in the legs, for the purpose of exciting the charitable commisera- 

 tion of the promiscuous giver of alms. 



*** Pericarps tuberculated, or muricated. Annual. 



15. R. hirsu'tus, Curt. (Fig. 909.) Pale Hairy Crowfoot. Leaves 

 hairy, the radical ones petiolated, ternate or bi-ternate, lobed, cut, and 

 acutely crenated, the upper ones sessile, with linear segments; pedun- 

 cles furrowed; calyx hairy, reflexed; carpels numerous, in a round 

 head, lenticular, compressed, rough, and with one or two tuberculated 

 marginal lines. 



English Botany, t. 1504.— English Flora, vol. iii. p. 50.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 220.— R. Philonolis, Ehrbart.— Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 11. 



Root of numerous simple fibres. Stem from a few inches to two feet 

 high, clothed with spreading pubescence, leafy, and more or less 



